Crash bumper and the like



y 7, 1937- E B. HUDSON I 8,087

CRASH BUMPER AND THE LIKE Filed May 1, 1936 s Sheets-Sheet 1 Dmve 121cm:

F I L ,f/ INVENTOR 7| Eawnv B. Hausa/v.

ATTORN EYS- July 27, 1937. 5 HUDSQQJ 2,088,087 CRASH BUMPER AND THE LIKE Filed May 1, 1956 S'Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR fan/11v B. Hausa/v.

ATTORN EYS July 27, 1937. r HUDSON 2,088,087

ORA-SH BUMPER AND THE LIKE Filed May 1, 1936 8 5 Sheets-Sheet s INVENTOR Eaw/N B. Hausa/v.

ATTORNEYS.

latentecl July 27, 1937 worse We CRASH BUIWPER AND THE LIKE Application May l, 1936, Serial No. 77,399

' 11 Claims.

My invention relates generally to devices for reducing the impact of an automobile or like vehicle when colliding with any solid object, such, for example, as the end of a passenger loading platfrom for street railways, bridge piers, and abutments in general. It is an object of my invention to produce a device which will greatly reduce the impact of collision and help to save life and property in accidents. It is my object to construct a bumper device which, while classed as expendible material, and while it may be partially or wholly destroyed as a result of a collision, will be cheap enough to manufacture, use and install, that the expense will be relatively slight and easily justifiable in view of the safety afforded thereby.

These and other objects of my invention which will be set forth hereinafter or will be apparent to one skilled in the art upon reading these specifications, I accomplish by that certain construction and arrangement of parts of which I shall now describe an exemplary embodiment, reference being made to the drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 shows my crash bumper in elevation installed on a street railway loading platform.

Fig. 2 shows the same bumper in plan.

Fig. 3 is an end elevation thereof.

Fig. 4 illustrates the result of a direct impact upon my bumper.

Fig. 5 illustrates the result of an angular impact.

Fig. 6 shows an exemplary installation of my bumpers for street railway loading platforms at a street intersection.

Fig. 7 shows an exemplary installation of my bumpers on the central pier of a railroad underpass on a highway.

Briefly, in the practice of my invention, I provide a bumper for attachment to any solid abutment as aforesaid, which bumper comprises a series of cells or substantially circular members made of sheet or plate metal, and arranged in tandem. Thecells are held together by suitable metal brackets. Each cell has a greater mechanical strength than the preceding cell in the direction of the abutment. With this arrangement, a vehicle, when colliding with the bumper, will meet with increasing resistance to its motion, so that it may be brought to rest quickly and positively before meeting the solid structure. Since impact is reduced or eliminated by progressively but rapidly slowing down the vehicle and decreasing the distance in which the stop is made, it is desirable that the bumper should be long in the direction of motion of the vehicle. In certain of my figures, I have illustrated a bumper comprising three cells. D1 Fig. 7, I have shown bumpers comprising five cells; and it will be understood that the number of cells is not a limit-ation upon my invention.

Taking up the exemplary embodiment of my invention shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, I have illustrated a plurality of cells l, 2 and 3 of sheet or plate metal progressively increasing in size from left to right. These cells are of drum shape, without heads, and are cylinders of metal formed in any way desired, as, for example, by bending sheet or plate metal and welding the meeting ends of edges thereof. The several cells are connected together by bracket members 5 as shown, 1

and the largest cell is connected by such bracket members to a main bracket 7, by which the whole structure may be attached to the abutment 8. Any suitable fastening means may be employed. It is most convenient to weld the bracket members E3 to the several cells and to provide some detachable fastening, such as bolts and nuts for attaching the final cell to the bracket 4 and for attaching the bracket l to the abutment. The cell structure may be supported in the direction of its length by a series of feet ll, bent over at the bottom and adapted to slide on the street, high-way or paving when the bumper is collapsed by a collision. The outer end of the bumper may be provided with a sign, reflector, or light 52, if desired.

The abutment 8 may, for example, be the common abutment at the end of a loading platform i l; but where no abutment is present, the use of my bumper requires the provision of one. As

a consequence, with my bumper there may be supplied means for forming an abutment, such as a metal box 22, which may be filled with concrete at low cost. The abutment may be surmounted by a light ill, as is customary.

The strength 01' the individual cells and their resistance to impact is controlled by various factors, such as the thickness of the metal and its temper; but it is not preferable to use a spring steel for example in the manufacture of the cells. The resistance of the cells is likewise controlled to a considerable extent by the spacing of the brackets Q, as will be understood. Preferably in the manufacture of my device I design each succeeding cell so that it will have greater resistance than the preceding one. In cities where the legal speed limit is not excessively high, it is possible to design the first cell so that it will not collapse at the legal speed limit, but will collapse at a speed, say, of 5 to 10 miles per hour in excess thereof. In a typical city installation, the cells may be designed to collapse at speeds of 30, 40 and miles per hour, respectively.

Figure 4 illustrates the result of a head-on collision from a vehicle proceeding in the direction of the arrow is, the front bumper of which only is illustrated at The speed of this vehicle has been sufiicient to collapse cell I, and to distort the remainder of the cells, as will be apparent upon comparing the solid line showing with the dotted line showing.

Fig. 5 shows the result of an angular collision, with the vehicle moving in the direction of the arrow it, the bumper of which is shown at 24. It will be noted that my crash bumper is capable of resisting collision from the side, and that regarded in this direction the bumper also is progressively stronger in the direction of collision. As has been indicated, the strength may be controlled in considerable de ree by spacing the brackets 6 to form a larger or smaller couple to resist head-on or sidewise collision force.

I have shown in Fig. 6 a typical city installation at the intersection of streets A and B, on leading platforms ii, adjacent street railway tracks 25. In Fig. 'l, I have shown an installation of my devices on abutment member 8', which are attached to or form part of the central pier of a bridge or over-pass structure C for vehicular traffic, or for a steam or electric railway, the tracks of which are shown at 25. The highway D passes beneath the bridge C, and arrows indicate the direction of traific thereon.

My invention is operative to bring a vehicle to rest gradually, though rapidly, and is effective in saving life and property damage at all reasonable speeds. It is cheap enough to manufacture and install, so that its replacement is not of consequence in view of the safety it provides, and in view or" the fact that it prevents destruction of the loading platform structure, as occurs in many instances. Modifications may be made in the structure without departing from the spirit of my invention, and what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In crash bumper means adapted for attachment to an abutment, a series of metal cells arranged in side by side relationship so as to form a line of such cells extending in the general direction of vehicular movement, said cells being progressively distortable under the forces developed during a collision.

2. In a crash bumper structure adapted for attachment to an abutment, a plurality of impact resisting metal cells extending in side by side relationship in a line in the direction of vehicular movement, means for attaching said cells together, and means for attaching one of said cells to said abutment.

3. In a crash bumper structure adapted for attachment to an abutment, a plurality of impact resisting metal cells extending in side by side relationship in a line in the direction of vehicular movement, means for attaching said cells together, and means for attaching one of said cells to said abutment, said cells having progressively greater resistance to impact in the direction of said abutment.

4. In a crash bumper structure adapted for attachment to an abutment, a plurality of impact resisting metal cells extending in side by side relationship in a line in the direction of vehicular movement, means for attaching said cells together, and means for attaching one of said cells to said abutment, said cells having progressively greater resistance to impact in the direction of said abutment, said means for attaching said cellstogether acting to increase the resistance of said structure to compressive forces.

5. In a crash bumper structure adapted for attachment to an abutment, a plurality of impact resisting metal cells extending in side by side relationship in a line in the direction of vehicular movement, means for attaching said cells together, means for attaching one of said cells to said abutment, said cells having progressively greater resistance to impact in the direction of said abutment, and means slidable with respect to a paving for supporting said structure.

6. A crash bumper adapted for attachment to an abutment, comprising a bracket member and a series of substantially circular metal cell members attached in side by side relationship to each other so as to extend in a line in a direction of vehicular traffic, one of said cell members being attached to said supporting means.

7. A crash bumper adapted for attachment to an abutment, comprising a bracket member and a series of substantially circular metal cell members attached in side by side relationship to each other so as to extend in a line in a direction of vehicular trafiic, one of said cell members being attached to said supporting means, said cell members diminishing in dimensions in accordance with their distance from said abutment means.

8. A crash bumper adapted for attachment to an abutment, comprising a bracket member and a series of substantially circular metal cell members attached in side by side relationship to each other so as to extend in a line in a direction of vehicular trafiic, one of said cell members being attached to said supporting means, said cell members diminishing in dimensions in accordance with their distance from said abutment means, certain of said cell members having legs adapted to slide with respect to a paving.

9. A crash bumper adapted for attachment to an abutment, comprising a bracket member and a series of substantially circular metal cell members attached in side by side relationship to each other so as to extend in a line in a direction of vehicular trafiic, one of said cell members being attached to said supporting means, said cell members diminishing in dimensions in accordance with their distance from said abutment means,.

and bracket means for holding said cell members together, said bracket means adapted to assist in resisting compressive forces.

10. In a crash bumper, a plurality of metal cylinders arranged in side by side relationship in a line and adapted for attachment to an abutment, said cells increasing in resistance to com-- pressive forces, and increasing also in size as they approach said abutment means.

11. In a crash bumper, a plurality of metal cells arranged in a line and adapted for attachment to an abutment, said cells increasing in resistance to compressive forces, and increasing also greater resistance to impact strains.

EDWIN B. HUDSON. 

